FOLLOW-UPEmail
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Monarchs: In the aftermath of yesterday's tragic events at Constant Hall, I write with an update about the building and the path forward for our campus. After consultation with the FBI, Norfolk Police, and university leadership, Constant Hall will remain closed for classes and other student activities for the duration of the Spring 2026 semester. The Registrar's Office is working with academic partners across campus to identify alternate building and room assignments for every affected course, and these assignments will be communicated to faculty and students before the conclusion of Spring Break. Dean Erika Marsillac of the Strome College of Business is coordinating with all faculty and staff whose offices are in Constant Hall to determine the best approach for the remainder of the semester, including temporary workspaces and remote-work arrangements. The university will develop a long-term plan for Constant Hall in the months ahead. We will get through this together. — Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D., President
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
Issued on the Friday evening of March 13, 2026 — less than 32 hours after the active-shooter event that killed Lt Col Brandon Shah on March 12
The 'duration of the Spring 2026 semester' closure is unusual — university buildings hit by violence often reopen within days or weeks, not months
Timing the building-reassignment deadline to the end of Spring Break (March 22, 2026) reflects a calculated decision to use the break as a logistical buffer rather than disrupt active classes
Dean Erika Marsillac is named explicitly — operationally identifying the single decision-maker responsible for the displaced Strome College of Business faculty
The message went out on the same Friday that five other Virginia campuses were being hit by copycat bomb threats (UVA, GMU, Bridgewater, Randolph-Macon, Longwood) — ODU's emergency-management apparatus was operating at extreme bandwidth that day
President Brian O. Hemphill's voice and signature ('We will get through this together') is the institutional analog of a wartime commander's letter — Hemphill himself is a frequent voice in ODU community communications and his name carries operational weight
This is technically an advisory, not a Clery emergency notification — the threat was neutralized 32 hours earlier — but it functions as the most consequential single ODU communication of the post-attack week